Discretionary Housing Payments

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The Council has been given extra money by the Government which allows us to top up payments of Housing Benefit where we believe a person needs additional help with housing costs. This is known as the Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) scheme.

To find out if you're entitled to this help, you will need to apply. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain, so it's worth taking the time to complete an application form .

The budget is limited so payments must, in effect, be rationed and it will probably only last for a limited period of time.

How will I be paid?

DHPs are usually paid as an addition to your regular Housing Benefit payments although we do sometimes make a single one-off payment where this is appropriate.

DHP awards are usually only made for a limited period. This is to give you time to find suitable cheaper accommodation or to find another way of meeting your housing costs. We will tell you how long any award is for when we write to you to tell you about your application.

How much can I get?

The total of your benefit plus discretionary housing payment (DHP) may not exceed your contractual rent.

This means that the most we can pay is the shortfall between your housing benefit and your contractual rent.

However, it is unlikely that any award will cover all of the shortfall. We generally expect people who are awarded a DHP to pay at least £5.00 a week towards the difference between their housing costs and their total benefit entitlement.

Not enough benefit?

If you do not agree with our decision, for example if you think you are entitled to benefit and we have said you are not, or if you think you should get more benefit because we have made a mistake, you can:

Ask for an explanation of how we made our decision or calculated your benefit